Unacceptable Behavior (6 page)

Max wanted to believe in the happy ending as much as the next girl, to give herself completely… trusting Rafe was the real deal, but did it have to feel like jumping off a skyscraper without a safety net?

Chapter Six

Max floated on air the next day at work and soared through the skies with Rafe as her guide the next night. He made love to her throughout the night, not letting her fall into an exhausted slumber until it was almost dawn.

She was amazed by the energy pulsing through her body when she got up for work even with so little sleep. Max grinned saucily up at Rafe as she passed him on her way out of the bathroom. “They should bottle you and send you out for mass marketing! That morning drag getting you down? Who needs energy drinks? Just take a Rafe all night long and you’ll be in fighting form when you wake ready to face the day!”

Rafe growled under his breath, giving her a light slap on the bottom to propel her out the bathroom door.

Max turned in the doorway with a pretend look of surprise. “Feeling under the weather, sugar? I guess I wore you out, perhaps we should get you some vitamins or you should eat some Wheaties… noooo!”

Max screamed with laughter as he suddenly tossed her over his shoulder, tickling her all the way to the bed, where he dropped her unceremoniously with mock sternness. “Get ready for work, young woman. None of this tomfoolery!”

“Spoilsport!” she yelled as he went back into the bathroom to take his own shower.

Max sighed wistfully. If he weren’t such a stickler for being on time, she would join him in the shower and… “Uh-oh… two nights and I’m a nympho!”

Laughing to herself, Max finished getting ready for work. She decided she didn’t care if she was a nympho; no woman would with Rafe Jennings in her bed.

* * *

Max was humming to herself when Rafe buzzed her on the intercom. “Maxine, meet me at the truck. We’re going to lunch.”

“Okay,” she said with a grin and barely managed to keep from leaping from her desk in full song.
I feel pretty… I feel pretty… see the pretty girl in that mirror there… What mirror where…

“Max, did you finish the report on Cummings Diesel?”

She jumped; thank goodness she hadn’t been singing out loud! “Hi, Bob! Here it is, see you later, I have a hot date!” Max grinned at him after handing over the report and grabbing her purse. “See ya after lunch!”

Rafe was already sitting in the driver’s seat when Max climbed in next to him. She frowned; he didn’t turn to her with a kiss or even a smile.

“Is something wrong?”

“We’ll talk about it over lunch.”

Max felt her heart drop into her shoes. He was going to break up with her! She spent the rest of the drive staring morosely out the window. Stupid jerk! He should never have made her fall in love with him. She should have stuck with Ted from the mailroom, someone she could manage.

Rafe pulled into a parking spot at Cracker Barrel; Max just turned to him with a glare. “I don’t feel like eating.”

“Tough,” he said succinctly as he got out of the car. She watched him walk around to her side and open the door. Max just looked at him.

“I’d rather not.”

“Come along, Maxine, we have things to discuss,” Rafe said firmly, taking her arm to pull her from the truck and then after him into the restaurant.

“Quit pulling, I’m coming! Under duress but I’m coming,” Max muttered sourly.

Rafe leaned down to whisper in her ear, “You’re in enough trouble, young lady, don’t make it worse.”

She blinked; in trouble? What did she do now? Part of her was relieved, maybe he didn’t want to break up, but the other part was indignant he felt he had the right to take her to task over anything.

It wasn’t crowded yet so they were seated quickly. Max frowned again when Rafe immediately handed the menus back to the server. “We’ll both just have the chicken salad sandwich with chips and a glass of sweet tea.”

“What if I didn’t want chicken salad?” Max asked in outrage.

“You always order chicken salad when we get food here. Stop looking for an argument,” he said firmly.

Part of her was flattered he remembered her preference, but Max wasn’t ready to climb down off her high horse yet. “Maybe I didn’t want chicken salad today.”

“Enough, Maxine,” he said flatly. “I had an interesting conversation with the mechanic working on your car today.”

Max brightened. “Is it ready?”

“Yes, but that’s not why he called. He wanted to know if you wanted your glasses.” Rafe’s voice rose a bit as he pulled her orange glasses case with a Yorkie puppy on it from his pocket and plunked it down on the table between them.

She winced and gave a nervous laugh. “You don’t say?”

“Maxine.”

“It’s not that big of a deal,” Max said with a frown.

“You can’t mess with your eyes, Maxine. If you need glasses, you should be wearing them. I can’t remember ever seeing you in a pair of glasses so you obviously aren’t taking care of your eyes.”

Max deflated the beginnings of a pout forming on her face. “I don’t really need them that bad.”

“They’re bifocals!” Rafe said loudly.

Max and the waitress who was bringing their food both jumped.

“Really, Rafe, is it necessary to yell? Besides, they’re ugly!” she snapped back at him in exasperation.

Rafe took a deep breath before turning to the waitress. “Could you bag that up to go, please?”

Max felt her bottom cheeks clench; perhaps contrite would have been a better approach. “Rafe, I know I should have…”

“Too late.”

“But…”

“Save it,” he said with a glare.

“I’m going to the ladies’ room,” she said with a disdainful sniff.

“Fine. I’ll meet you at the cash register. It’ll give me time to browse.”

Max rolled her eyes as she walked through the country store in the lobby on her way to the restroom. The man had all but told the entire dining room he was going to bust her butt and now he was browsing? The whole situation was preposterous!

It wasn’t like she was used to answering to anyone. She’d ignored her need for glasses long before they were dating. Long before he’d ever spanked her. It wasn’t fair for him to bring up past failings. While Max recognized this particular past failing was also a current one, it wasn’t as if she’d been able to take care of it. After all, her car was in the shop and the glasses had been in the car.

Deciding this was the approach to take, Max headed out to meet Rafe at the register, and promptly froze when she saw what he was handing to the clerk behind the counter.

It was a paddle ball! Max was mortified. She looked nervously at the clerk. “That’s not for me… it’s for my nephew… he collects paddles… I mean paddle balls… he really likes the game!” Max knew the red heat climbing into her face was totally belying her words.

Rafe snorted as he paid the suddenly tongue-tied clerk, who was blushing almost as much as Max. “Have a nice day.” she said rather weakly to Max before she turned to follow Rafe’s determined stride out the door.

“I can’t believe you did that to me!” Max yelled as she climbed into the truck.

“I didn’t do anything, Maxine, you were the one who gave the game away and I refuse to take any responsibility for the scene you just played out in there,” Rafe said firmly.

“I will never eat at Cracker Barrel again,” she exclaimed.

Rafe just grunted and continued to drive. Max frowned as she realized they were driving back to her apartment. “I have to go back to work!”

“No, you don’t. I called while you were in the bathroom and said you weren’t feeling well.”

“I feel fine!” she squeaked.

“You won’t by the time I’m finished with you,” Rafe said matter-of-factly.

Max gulped and stared at the sack sitting innocuously on top of the dash with morbid fascination.

“I’ve learned my lesson!”

He just snorted in disbelief.

“It’s not fair. We weren’t dating when I stopped wearing my glasses and since we started dating, my car’s been in the shop with my glasses! Isn’t there some sort of grandfather clause that says you can’t spank me for things in the past?”

“I’m using the grandfather clause that states I can spank you if the thing in the past is still of an outstanding nature.”

“But my car is in the shop and my glasses have been in the car!”

“Why is your car in the shop?” he asked as if curious.

“Because I hit you, but that’s beside the point!”

“Actually, Maxine, that is exactly the point; all of the past two weeks are an example of you behaving in an irresponsible manner. All you had to do was say you needed your glasses from the car, but you chose not to do so. It’s all tied together and I think we need to nip this rebellious irresponsibility in the bud.”

“Consider it nipped!” she squawked as he parked in front of her building.

“It’s about to be well and truly nipped,” he said resolutely.

This time Max practically raced him to her door; maybe if she got there before him she could… no such luck. Silly long-legged man!

“Corner.”

“Don’t you want to talk about this?”

“I think everything’s been pretty much said. Corner. One…”

“Fine!” Max yelled as she stomped to the corner, where she stood fidgeting from one foot to the other. He had a paddle… how bad was it going to be… worse than his hand? As bad as the belt?

Rafe set the sandwich plates down on the counter before sitting down on the couch with his other purchase. She watched out of the corner of her eye as he painstakingly pulled the large staple holding the rubber string and ball out of the lightweight paddle. It was smaller than the ones from the grocery store, more compact but a tad thicker. All in all it was sturdy little fly-back paddle. She shuddered when he swished it in the air experimentally and grinned, apparently satisfied it would serve his purposes.

“Come here, Maxine,” he ordered.

Max stayed in the corner, her nose pressed tightly into it. “I’m still reflecting on the error of my ways.”

“Now, Maxine.”

Her shoulders slumped in defeat before Max turned to face him and walked slowly to her doom.
Stupid paddle… stupid scary paddle…

When she was standing before him, Rafe wasted no time pulling her down across his thighs and baring her bottom to his gaze and to the paddle.

He didn’t take any time for a warm-up but just got to business bringing the little paddle down with a loud crack that seemed to echo around the living room.

Max yowled as the sting filled her backside with fire, barely having time to absorb it before the paddle fell a second time and then a third. She quickly lost count as it fell again and again rapidly across her writhing bottom.

Rafe kept up a quick and steady rhythm, watching as he painted her bottom several shades of red then an intriguing shade of scarlet.

Max hung limply over his knee feeling as if her bottom would explode into flames any minute and set the wicked little paddle on fire. She would not mourn its demise.

A shuddering sigh of relief ran through her as Rafe stopped for a moment, then she realized he was only tipping her further over so he could pay special attention to the spot where her thighs and bottom met and she started crying anew.

Rafe blazed another path of glory across the sweet spot now opened up to him and continued to paddle her as if he would never stop.

Max suddenly felt as if something cracked open inside her and released every bit of tension held within her body in a mighty sigh of surrender, letting go of her last bit of control. She sobbed loudly, not even registering the spanking had stopped. She gave him everything that was within her and with the release came freedom and blessed peace.

Rafe loved her; no matter how far up the cliff was, he would catch her… Rafe was her net. When she lost control, he would be there to bring her back in focus, he would give her clarity.

He would love her. She was his and he was hers.

Chapter Seven

The next morning Max awoke to Rafe handing her the little red cell phone she’d so desperately missed and her car keys.

He seemed distant and not at all like the man who’d held her in his arms during the night.

“I don’t understand. I thought you said I couldn’t have my car for…”

“Something’s come up, my old boss called this morning and I’m needed in Washington for a few weeks. I think you’ve learned your lesson. I’ll drop you at work and then someone will deliver your car before you get off for the day,” he explained.

“What about… well, I mean… I…” She sniffled as her eyes began to fill without her permission.

“Don’t, Maxine,” Rafe said softly, pulling her gently into his chest as he stroked a hand down her back. “I’ll be back, I promise.”

Then he kissed her gently and dropped her off at work.

* * *

She was able to convince herself he was coming back for the first month. By the end of the second month she began to doubt everything they’d shared. Sure, he’d managed to call a few times, but the calls were short and the conversation stilted. There was the distance between them, and there was the worry about his safety, and then there was the strangeness of his calls, and soon Max began to have doubts. She wasn’t sure she could handle it if he got hurt or even killed. It would be easier if he’d just been a fling. Then she could be angry, rather than worried. When each phone call was more and more stilted and magnified the distance between them, she realized it wasn’t better at all; she missed him. After the third month passed, she decided it was all a lie; nothing had been real. Rafe had just wanted sex and the added kink of smacking her bottom.

Max had handed herself to him on a silver platter when she rear-ended him with a phone screen full of spanking stories. She’d made it so easy.

She was determined to never be such an easy mark for any man again. Max began to drop weight at an alarming rate; she had a hard time eating since her appetite was non-existent.